Wednesday, February 4, 2009

RosenBeautiful!

Our pal Wrigleyville unearthed a gem of a post from a guy named Steve Rosenbloom, who writes the cleverly-named "RosenBlog" for the Chicago Tribune.

In Rosenbloom's RosenBlog post in question, Rosenbloom (via the RosenBlog) says the following:

Good news, Cubs fans: The Brewers have reached their daily ATM limit for payroll. They’re somewhere between $79 million and $82 million, and that’s enough, said owner Mark Attanasio.

If true, the Brewers’ starting rotation looks pretty much like this: Yovani Gallardo, Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, Manny Parra and Seth McClung. The Cubs’ biggest problem will be avoiding hamstrings racing for the bat rack.


Remember, the Brewers struggled to get into the playoffs with CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets at the top of the rotation. The Brewers’ bullpen was legendarily bad, especially with big leads, and when you’re sad to see Salomon Torres leave, you’ve got bigger issues.

I know the Brewers can hit, but they can’t out-hit their own pitching staff, nor the Cubs'. So, it’s the Cubs in a rout in this rivalry.

Quick, someone tell Lou Piniella how easy this will be. We could use his reaction to keep us amused until pitchers and catchers report.

This is a stunningly stupid post. Let's examine it further:

Good news, Cubs fans: The Brewers have reached their daily ATM limit for payroll. They’re somewhere between $79 million and $82 million, and that’s enough, said owner Mark Attanasio.

Daily ATM limit for payroll? That doesn't even make sense. But nice try.

If true, the Brewers’ starting rotation looks pretty much like this: Yovani Gallardo, Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, Manny Parra and Seth McClung. The Cubs’ biggest problem will be avoiding hamstrings racing for the bat rack.

Avoiding hamstrings? Huh? If that is the Cubs' biggest problem look out!

Remember, the Brewers struggled to get into the playoffs with CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets at the top of the rotation. The Brewers’ bullpen was legendarily bad, especially with big leads, and when you’re sad to see Salomon Torres leave, you’ve got bigger issues.

I'd like to know what Rosenbloom's definition of "legendarily bad" is. When I go back and look at the stats from 2008, I see that the Brewers' bullpen was 4th in the NL in ERA at 3.89 (Cubs were 8th at 4.10), tied for 4th in fewest losses with 24 (with Cubs and Dogers), 6th in batting average against (Cubs 7th at .251), 6th in OPS against at .722 (Cubs 11th at .741), tied for 12th in blown saves with 26 (Cubs tied for 10th with 24), tied for 7th in WHIP at 1.39 (Cubs tied for 3rd at 1.33). I could go on. Point is, the stats seem to say that this was an above-average bullpen when you look at the entirety of 2008. Did they blow some games? Sure - some spectacularly (I'm thinking the Arizona game and the Cubs game). But overall they were pretty solid. And they were damn near impregnable in the playoffs, if you recall, when the starting pitchers were sucking wind and going about 4 innings. Had Rosenbloom done any research for his RosenBlog, he might not write idiotic things.

I know the Brewers can hit, but they can’t out-hit their own pitching staff, nor the Cubs'. So, it’s the Cubs in a rout in this rivalry.

I am certain that the Brewers positional players can out-hit their pitching staff. The Brewers pitchers are not good hitters. Similarly, although Big Z is a good hitter, I am certain that the Brewers positional players can out-hit the Cubs pitchers. If Rosenbloom possessed adequately-functioning neurons, he might not write idiotic things.

Quick, someone tell Lou Piniella how easy this will be. We could use his reaction to keep us amused until pitchers and catchers report.

Hopefully, Rosenbloom can deliver a copy of this post to Lou personally, and catch his reaction on tape. Likely as not, having to deal with this guy semi-regularly, Lou already knows that Rosenbloom is one step removed from brain death, but it still might be amusing.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done sir

Anonymous said...

I think he ment the Brewers can hit, but not hit enough to overcome their pitching deficincies.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Rosengay. The Cubs win the Series in a cakewalk this year. I don't see what could possibly go wrong. In fact, I'd be surprised if the AL team even bothers to show up for the Series. The Brewers should apologize for their efforts, and feel blessed to just occupy a spot in the same division as this mighty team.

Matt said...

If that is what he meant, perhaps he should have written that.

Anonymous said...

He was obviously worried about the Brewers until they didn't pick up any pitching, otherwise this article would have never been written... well it's not really an article, more like a piece of crap.

Why isn't he writing about the Cards?

Anonymous said...

This guy is obviously a buffoon, but I have to ask the question: are you guys confident in that rotation this year?

Matt said...

I'd prefer to have CC again.

Starting pitching won't be the strength of the team, but that 5 isn't horrible. The biggest problem is there is 0 depth.

woziszeus said...

Matt's right. Depth is the key, which is lacking.

I'm telling you...Chris Capuano or Chris Narveson will be logging significant innings for the team this year...as the rotation currently stands. This doesn't bode well.

Anonymous said...

This team is one Braun or Gallardo DL stint away from 71-91.

Of course, the Cubs are one 98-64 regular season away from being swept in the first round.

Anonymous said...

as has said many times before, this year is a "treading water" year. we are not supposed to be as good as last year, we are not supposed to go to the playoffs.

we're just supposed to be good enough to keep the bandwagon fans coming to MP, and a .500 season would do that.

next offseason doug will look at what's available and determine if we should spend the $ to "go for it" or wait another year.

Anonymous said...

ap - rosenbloom hates the cubs, so he would never say that.

matt - rosenbloom won't have any contact with lou, as he never goes to games. he's out to pasture.

Anonymous said...

WV-I'm not at all familiar with this guy, but if you say he hates the Cubs, what do the people that love the Cubs write?

Anonymous said...

his post was about the crapitude that is the brewers. it in no way praises the cubs, other than comparatively.

Anonymous said...

"So, it’s the Cubs in a rout in this rivalry.

Quick, someone tell Lou Piniella how easy this will be. We could use his reaction to keep us amused until pitchers and catchers report."

.....is not praising the Cubs? You & I have different definitions of that then.

Anonymous said...

he is comparing the cubs to the brewers - and the post as a whole is about how bad the brewers will be. he is saying the brewers do not have any pitching. therefore, the cubs are better than the brewers - "in a rout."

as for lou, he hates lou. he hates soriano. he hates bradley. the lou mention is about how lou will lose his temper when you tell him this about the cubs/brewers.

perhaps this will help you understand (or you could just go back and read a month's worth of rosenbloom posts, since you obviously don't believe me):

1. i believe jim doyle is a bad governor who makes bad decisions for the people of wisconsin.

2. i believe rod blagojevich was a horrible governor in illinois.

3. compared to illinois, it's wisconsin "in a rout in this (governor) rivalry."

that does not mean that i am praising jim doyle or the state of wisconsin in any way shape or form. it's an issue of degrees.

Clown said...

I think Urban Dictionary sums it up pretty well:

----------------------------------
Chicago Cubs

3. America's Gay Baseball Team

1. I went to New York to see the White Sox play the Yankees, however, I thought it would be interesting to see the Minor League Game first so I took the subway to Shea Stadium so I could see the Chicago Cubs play the Mets.

2. Chad: Want to go see the Chicago Cubs game today?

Michael: Sure. Who are they playing?

Chad: Oh, I don't know. I just wanted someone who would drive me home after I got incoherently drunk and had rough, unprotected sex with lots of other men.

Michael: Oh, sure. Wanna make out?

Chad: Sure

3. Gay guy #1: Let's go see the Chicago Cubs play!

Gay guy #2: Sure, they're real gay, just like us.

Anonymous said...

wow. clever.

Anonymous said...

I get it WV, honestly I do. I just don't see how someone who hates the Cubs as much as you say, can basically be popping champagne 9 months from the World Series.

Clown-That was great.

(Optimism=on)

I don't think the Brewers are stacked in the starting pitching department, but doesn't Gallardo essentially replace Sheets from last year? He does in my mind, so really the net loss to the rotation is just CC, and though that guy was freaking great I'd say about 28 teams in baseball (including the Cubs) could not have afforded him in FA this year. What were we supposed to do?

Brewer starters had a collective ERA of 3.86 last year which was #2 in the NL. Only 5 teams in the NL had a starter ERA under 4. There's some talent there.

Brewer starters threw 983.1 innings last year, which was the most in the NL. That's with CC added in July, Sheets on the shelf at the end of the year, and Gallardo out most of the year too.

Of those 983.1 innings, CC only threw 130.2 of them (13%).

If you remove CC's 130.2 IP & 24 ER last year (Jesus!), Brewer starters still had an ERA of 4.20. That would still be in the top half of the NL last year, and it would be almost equal to STL (4.19) who was #7 in the NL.

Returning 87% of what was ARGUABLY the best starting rotation in the NL last year (#1IP/#2ERA) is still most likely a staff in the top third/half of the NL. It's not like they are going to be throwing underhand.

Goldy said...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Chicago's Mike Hunt!